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| Indo-Pak catfight profiting American monkeys | | | NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
When the two cats fight over a loaf of bread the proverbial monkey enjoys the entire loaf.In the ongoing fight between the two cats, India and Pakistan, the monkey, the USA, is the gainer. Both New Delhi and Islamabad look towards the US Government for help and guidance. Both get it but with a rider on each goodwill gesture. Examples are galore. On one hand the American leaders have stated, soon after the Mumbai mayhem,that India has the right to attack Pakistan to defend its security integrity. But on the other hand a word was conveyed to Delhi that it should desist from launching an attack even on the terrorist camps in Pakistan and occupied Kashmir. Again on one hand the US Government suggested, with a dose of warning, to Pakistan to carry out a crackdown on terrorist camps and on the offices of Jamaat-ud-Dawa which Islamabad followed in letter and spirit by arresting over 250 activist of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and by sealing several of its offices across Pakistan. On the other hand the USA refused to declare Pakistan a terrorist state.
Isn't it an irony? On one hand the USA has refused to declare Pakistan a terrorist state on the other it has asked Islamabad to launch a heavy crackdown on terrorists across Pakistan so that not any group of terrorists used the soil of Pakistan for repeating the Mumbai carnage. Tagged with it is another irony. Several countries have certified that those who carried out the Mumbai mayhem had come from Pakistan which indicates clearly Pakistan's role in fomenting terrorist activities in India but Islamabad has said that it still was waiting for evidence from India against individuals and organizations that were being blamed for the Mumbai strike. The US administration would have not issued do's and don'ts had it not been convinced with the evidence that India had given to it. Before Pakistan implemented the US directions in letter and spirit it should have sought evidence from the Americans on India's allegations against Pakistan for having directly or indirectly aided terrorists who struck Mumbai like a lightning. It did not.This could make one believe that Islamabad knew that those who attacked vital installations in Mumbai were from Pakistan.
Let me go back to the cat and monkey story. Since the birth of Pakistan the US Government has demonstrated pro-Pakistan tilt in its foreign policy in the way the erstwhile Soviet Union and now Russia has exhibited pro-India bias in her foreign policy.It was because of the pronounced tilt that the relations between the USA and India having remained strained. The relations have improved after 2002.And during the last six years or so the US Government has performed a balancing act while keeping its relations smooth with Islamabad and Delhi. In fact the Americans have been looking for bases in Pakistan not only for protecting Afghanistan and Iraq against fundamentalist forces and terrorists but for building a fortress against the commuist Russia. The US Government wants good relations with India so that during any emergency it could carve out a base in India against China. The Americans want friendly relations with India and Pakistan which continue to be major buyers of the US weaponry and military hardware. At the sametime the US Government does not wish for peace between India and Pakistan. Even if it favours peace on the India-Pakistan border it does not want the tension between the two to end.If the level of mistrust and tension between the two melts neither India nor Pakistan will seek military aid from the USA. So long the two cats keep on fighting, even if with words, the monkey will be able to reap rich harvest. Not only this: the fight between the two cats will allow the American Presidents to play the role of a headmaster. And right from the Mumbai carnage day Washington has been acting like a headmaster with a rod in its hand. |
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